Daily Curiosities: Pompeii was Buried by a Volcano
POSTED by: on 10/07/2009
In the year 79 C.E. Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano near Naples, Italy, erupted with fatal force. OVer the course of two days it completely buried two Roman Cities, Herculaneum and the more famous Pompeii.
Pompeii and Herculaneum were two wealthy cities in the Roman world, both situated at the base of the fertile slopes of Mount Vesuvius. This placed them right in the path of several pyroclastic flows and surges that contributed, in addition to ash-fall, to the complete burial of both cities under tens of feet of volcanic materials.
People were caught in the middle of their daily lives and their homes have been kept in a remarkable state of preservation by the dense ash covering them. The bones of the victims have been found in small cavities in the ash. When these cavities are filled with plaster and the excavated, archaeologists are left with sulptures of the residents of the cities, caught in their final moments of life, some with such clarity that even the expression on their faces may be seen.
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